Court Hearings begin for charity workers in Jordan.

Court Hearings begin for charity workers in Jordan.

  Twenty-four members of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood Movement on Thursday went on trial before a criminal court, charged with corruption and money laundering linked with their running of the Islamic Centre Society (ICS) which was dissolved three years ago

Sources revealed that the defendants believed that the case against them was motivated by political objectives, in an attempt to take control of the budget in which the movement had acquired through charity and alms payments.

Before its dissolution, the ICS represented the financial arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The society, which administered more than 1 billion dollars worth of assets, ran scores of schools, health establishments and social centers which were head by distinguished and noble men including Abdul Mageed Thanaybat, Dr Abdul Latif Arabiyat, Dr Ishak Farhan, Hamza Mansour, Azzam Alhenedy and Hekmat Alrawasheda.

The ICS was dissolved by the government of former Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit in 2006 at the height of differences with the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF).

The government at that time charged ICS officials of corruptive practices, but Brotherhood leaders contended that the step was designed to deprive the Islamic movement of the backing it traditionally enjoyed among beneficiaries from the ICS services.